I don't know when exactly everything stopped feeling real.
One moment, I was still inside my school, surrounded by familiar walls, desks, and voices I had heard almost every day of my life. The next, the world outside—and slowly, the world inside—was coming apart piece by piece.
Chaos swallowed Kitanoshima.
I could feel it even without seeing the entire city. The ground trembled beneath my feet like it was alive, like something massive was clawing its way up from beneath the earth. The air itself felt heavy, thick with dust and heat. Every few seconds, a deep, thunderous impact shook the building, followed by a sound like metal being torn apart.
Somewhere above us, two unknown figures were fighting. I didn't know who—or what—they were. All I knew was that every time they clashed, something else in the city died.
I could hear screams coming from outside the school. Not just one or two. Hundreds. Thousands. Cries of fear, pain, and desperation blended together into one endless wail that echoed through the halls and seeped into my bones. Vehicles were being thrown through the air like toys. I saw one through a shattered window—an entire bus spinning uncontrollably before crashing into a nearby building and exploding into flames.
People were dying. Left and right.
And we were still inside.
"Everyone, hurry! Go toward the stairs and evacuate!"
A teacher's voice cut through the noise, sharp and strained. I snapped my head toward him and saw several teachers waving their arms, trying to guide students out of the classrooms and into the hallways. Their faces were pale. Some of them were shaking.
That alone terrified me more than anything else.
Teachers were supposed to be calm. In control. Seeing them like this made something cold twist in my stomach.
The hallway filled instantly. Students poured out of classrooms, colliding into each other, crying, shouting, some frozen in place, unable to move.
"We're going to die!"
"What's happening?!"
"I'm scared!"
"Save me! Wahhh!"
"I want to see my family one last time!"
The words hit me from all sides. Each scream felt like it was hammering directly into my head. My heart started pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out of my chest.
We were told to head for the left-back stairwell. Everyone rushed in that direction, bodies pressing together, shoes slipping on the floor slick with dust and broken glass. I stayed near the back, pushing forward, trying not to fall.
The building shook again.
Then—
BOOM.
A deafening explosion tore through the stairwell ahead of us. I barely had time to register the sound before something massive burst through the wall. Stone, concrete, and metal blasted outward in every direction. The stairwell collapsed in on itself with a horrible, grinding scream.
Students who had been on it disappeared instantly.
Some were crushed.
Some were thrown into the air.
Some just vanished under the rubble.
The screams cut off all at once.
For a split second, there was silence.
Then the crying became even worse.
I stood frozen, staring at the destroyed stairwell. My mind couldn't process what I was seeing. The place we were supposed to escape through was gone. And with it, so many people.
Nearly a quarter of the students who had been with us were just… gone.
My stomach lurched.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
If we stayed here, we were next.
We need to hurry and escape or we will all die.
The thought slammed into me with absolute clarity. Fear burned through my veins, but beneath it, something else surfaced—urgency. Instinct.
I opened my mouth and yelled as loud as I could.
"Everyone this way! We need to hurry and get out of here! There are still other stairs we can use to go down and get out of here!"
Some heads turned toward me. Some students hesitated, shock and fear clouding their eyes. But when another tremor shook the building and dust rained down from the ceiling, they moved.
We ran.
As we moved through the corridors toward the other stairwell, the school stopped looking like a school.
Bodies were scattered across the floor—teachers and students alike. Some weren't moving at all. Others were twisted at angles that made my chest tighten painfully. I didn't stop to check any of them. I couldn't.
The walls were torn open in places, massive holes blasted straight through them. Entire sections of the building were missing. There were classrooms that should have been there—but weren't. Just open air, rubble, and smoke, like those rooms had never existed in the first place.
The familiar layout of the school I had walked through for years was gone.
Ahead, I saw another group of students and teachers gathered near the remaining stairwell. They were trying to leave. A teacher spotted us and waved frantically.
"Hurry before the building collapses!"
The students around me surged forward, desperation overtaking them. They rushed past me, pushing toward the teacher.
Then I saw it.
A light.
It wasn't natural. It glowed faintly in the distance, sharp and focused, cutting through the dust-filled air. Something about it made my skin crawl.
Before I could think, my body moved.
I spread my arms wide and stepped in front of the others.
"Everyone get away from there!" I screamed.
The students skidded to a halt. Some nearly crashed into me.
The teacher stared at me, confused.
"Huh…?"
That was all he managed to say.
A massive blast slammed into the school.
The force was unimaginable. Light swallowed everything. Heat surged forward like a wave. The teacher's side of the building was erased completely—disintegrated into nothing but dust in a single instant.
There was no scream.
No time.
Just nothing.
When the light faded, that entire side of the school was gone.
Only empty space remained.
Seventeen of us were left alive.
My ears rang violently. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like a jet engine roaring inside my chest. I couldn't breathe properly. I couldn't look away.
In a matter of seconds…
That side of the school.
The teachers.
The students.
They were all just… no more.
The building groaned ominously beneath us. Cracks spread along the walls and ceiling. Pieces of concrete fell, smashing against the floor.
"We have to run!" I shouted.
There was no argument this time.
We ran back the way we came, away from the collapsing stairwell. The floor shook with every step. Somewhere above us, another explosion thundered.
As we reached a row of broken windows, I looked down.
Bushes.
They were far below. Too far.
But there was no other way.
"Jump on the bushes!" I yelled. "Everyone, jump!"
The students froze.
One of them turned to me, panic etched across his face.
"Are you mad?! We won't be in one piece if we jump from this high up!"
I clenched my fists.
"Just jump!" I screamed. "A broken bone is better than dying!"
They hesitated. Fear rooted them in place.
The building shuddered violently.
"Just jump, damn it!" I yelled.
That did it.
One by one, they climbed through the windows and jumped. Some screamed as they fell. Some went silent. I watched them disappear below, my heart racing.
When the last student jumped, I didn't hesitate anymore.
I jumped too.
Pain exploded through my body the moment I hit the ground. Something snapped in my arm. A sharp, sickening crack echoed in my leg. The world spun violently as I crashed into the bushes and rolled onto the dirt.
I screamed.
Agony ripped through me, blinding and overwhelming. I couldn't move for a few seconds. My vision blurred.
When I finally forced myself to look up, I saw the school.
What was left of it.
The building was collapsing in on itself, reduced to rubble and dust. The place where I had spent so many ordinary days—classes, conversations, boredom, laughter—was gone.
For a brief moment, memories flashed through my mind.
Then they were buried beneath the ruins.
I looked around at the others.
Only twelve of us were there.
Five didn't make it.
A hand suddenly grabbed my collar and yanked me forward.
"You bastard!" someone yelled.
I looked up and saw crimson red hair.
Ren Tsurugi.
"These people died because of you!"
I didn't say anything.
I couldn't.
The words felt true.
Another voice cut in sharply.
"Stop both of you!"
Kai Kuronoe stepped between us, his black hair disheveled, his expression firm despite the chaos.
"This is no time for conflict," he said. "What Zen did was the only way for us to survive. If he didn't tell us to jump, we would also be under the rubble."
Ren clenched his fists.
"…Damn it," he muttered.
Naya Okami stepped forward next, her short green hair coated in dust.
"Everyone calm down," she said. "We need to hurry and go back to our homes and check on our families to see if everyone is alright."
Her words hit me like a punch.
Family.
I hadn't even thought about them.
Kai clapped his hands once, sharply.
"Alright everyone," he said. "Take a moment. Breathe. I know everyone is scared and unsure if we'll survive or not. But right now, we need to worry about our families with a sound mind."
He looked at all of us.
"Go home and check on them. Don't think about whether they're alive or not. Go believing they are alive and well. And when you check, take your families with you and go to the shelter. Now everyone—go!"
We dispersed.
As I limped away from the school grounds, pain screaming through my arm and leg, something caught my eye.
A hand.
Sticking out from beneath a pile of rubble.
It was clutching a poster.
I approached slowly. My heart sank as I recognized it.
It was the same poster my friend had shown me that morning.
My vision blurred.
I started running.
Ignoring the pain. Ignoring the burning in my limbs. Holding my broken arm against my chest, dragging my leg behind me, I ran.
Please be fine.
Please.
I imagined home as I ran.
My mother watering the plants.
My father watching the news.
My brothers arguing.
My sister reading her favorite book.
Everything normal.
Everything safe.
When I reached my neighborhood, my heart shattered.
The houses were gone.
My house was gone.
Only craters and rubble remained.
I fell to my knees.
Tears streamed down my face.
And then I screamed.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"